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The Riddling Reaver (book)
:For other uses of '''The Riddling Reaver', see'' The Riddling Reaver (disambiguation) The Riddling Reaver is a multi-player role-playing gamebook written by Paul Mason, Steve Williams, and edited by Steve Jackson, illustrated by Brian Williams and Leo Hartas and originally published in 1986 by Puffin Books. It forms part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series. It was not part of the main Fighting Fantasy Gamebook series, but rather one of the many spin-offs. As a role-playing gamebook, it is most closely associated with the book Fighting Fantasy - The Introductory Role-Playing Game in that it is an attempt to extend the Fighting Fantasy concept into a more developed role-playing system, in a basic form. As such, it is an unnumbered addition to the Puffin series (ISBN 0-14-032156-X), often grouped with Fighting Fantasy - The Introductory Role-Playing Game in book listings. There are currently no announced plans to republish this book as part of the modern Wizard series. Creation Background The Riddling Reaver is a game designed to work with the basic rules of gameplay set out by Fighting Fantasy - The Introductory Role-Playing Game, working with a minimum of three players and a GamesMaster and a suggestion of "no more" than five players and a GamesMaster. The book requires the GamesMaster to have a copy of Fighting Fantasy and recommends having access to Titan - The Fighting Fantasy World and Out of the Pit for further information to enhance the gameplay. The adventure is divided into four "acts": *Act One: The Curse of Kallamehr *Act Two: Voyage of Enigma *Act Three: The Pendulum of Fate *Act Four: The Realm of Entropy After crossing Allansia the players travel South to Kallamehr where they discover Baron Bluestone engaged in a fight atop a tower inside the city. This gets them involved in the plans of the Riddling Reaver who has plans to spread chaos across the continent. Rules The book in general follows the original rules set down in Fighting Fantasy - The Introductory Role-Playing Game. Unique Rules *Unconsciousness is introduced where if a player's stamina score has been reduced to 0 they have been rendered unconscious rather than dead (a reduction to -1 or lower however counts as death). A dice roll (2d6) then determines how many minutes the player is unconscious. *Weapons creates differentiation between the damage various weapons can inflict and skill penalties for hard-to-use weapons such as a Morning Star or Two-Handed Sword. *Mighty Strike means a roll of double six results in a mortal blow to an opponent. *Magic allows one of the players to be a wizard. This comes at a cost of playing with the minimum stamina score of 14. The player is further penalised with a skill roll of 1d6 + 4. They however have the statistic of magic (2d6 + 6) which determines the number of spells available to the player. The spell list is: Creature Copy, ESP, Fire, Fool's Gold, Illusion, Levitation, luck, Shielding, skill, stamina, strength, and Weakness. Equipment List *Sword *Backpack *Rope *10 Provisions Unlike the previous book the players are not equipped with potions. Cover and Illustrations '''Covers The original cover of the book was designed and illustrated by Peter Andrew Jones. #Price of 1st Impression Illustrations The interior illustrations were by Brian Williams. Unlike the regular gamebooks, due to the smaller than usual number of references there is a larger number of full-page illustrations with roughly one per entry. There were 50 full page illustrations (not counting maps) and 5 minor repeated illustrations scattered throughout the text. The colour map on the inside front cover and the interior black and white maps were by Leo Hartas. These black and white maps are to be found on pages: 26, 46, 72, 122, 152, 178 and 212. Intertextual References Both the Riddling Reaver and Kallamehr would feature in Slaves of the Abyss, written by Mason and Williams and published in 1988. The Reaver reappears later in Mason's solo gamebook Magehunter. Prequel A prequel exists in the form of The Dreaming Sands, a short multi-player adventure published in Issue 13 of Warlock magazine in which the Reaver also appears. Other Media Main Characters *''YOU: Hero of The Riddling Reaver *Baron Bluestone *Bhorriz *Carolina Bluestone *Dappa *Finnegan O'Dinnegan - Leprechaun *Hammet the Dash - Wizard *Ignatius Galapagos - Merchant *The Riddling Reaver Locations *Agra *Alkemis *Bay of Storms *Bei-Han *Belew Mews *Brion's Bluff *Brion's Gate *Dolphin Alley *Frantz Walk *Grand Gate *Gulf of Shamuz *Icon Street *Mehr Gate *Mountains of Grief *Nautical Academy of Kallamehr *Pariah Way *Parrot in a Cage'' *Plain of Bones *Rangor Tower *Reaver's Retreat *Rimon *River Vymorn *Sallakesh Street *Shrine of Destiny *Silur Cha *Square of Patriarchs *Swamplands of Silur Cha *The Brine Road *''The Flesh and Pen Emporium'' *The Glimmering Sea *The Snakelands *The Street of Salt and Spray *The Way of Flint *The Way of the Rat *The Way of Thieves *Vymorna Encounters *Babi Lai *Ball Centipedes *Chimera *Devlin *Electric Eels *Eye Stingers *Fire Demon *Flock of Bats *Giant Dragonfly *Giant Frog *Giant Pitcher-Plant *Giant Spike Spider *Giant Snake *Giant Spider *Giant Squid *Great Apes *Grinding Balls *Head-Hunters - Pygmies/Regular/Shaman *Humans - Cut-Throat/Guards/Press-Gang Heavies/Street Gang Members/Thugs *Icon *Imitator *Jaguars *Jib-Jib *Krell *Largo the Swift *Lizard Men *Manikin *Marsh Wraiths *Mechanical Armour *Metal Sentinel *Miniature Silver Dragon *Minotaur *Mouse *Mucalytic *Mutant Lizard Men *Plague Zombies *Plesiosaurus *Poltergeist *Purple Hair *Replicanths *Sea Giant *Shark *Storm Spirits *Stuffed Riddling Reaver *Stuffed Sailors *Swarm of Flies *Tarantulas *Wheelies *Wrapper Further Notes *The Reaver's alias of "Cona Numdrum" is a play on the word "conundrum". Dedication To Carolina and my feet (without whom I would have been unable to get up in the morning) See Also *Advanced Fighting Fantasy *''Appointment with F.E.A.R.'' *''Black Vein Prophecy'' *''Creature of Havoc'' *''Deathtrap on Legs'' (Mini-FF) *''Fighting Fantasy'' *''Fighting Fantasy - The Introductory Role-Playing Game'' *''House of Hell'' *''Magehunter'' *''Slaves of the Abyss'' *''Sorcery!'' *''Starship Traveller'' *''The Citadel of Chaos'' *''The Crimson Tide'' *''The Dreaming Sands'' (Mini-FF) *''The House of Hell'' (Mini-FF) *''The Ring of Seven Terrors'' (Mini-FF) *''The Tower of Hades'' (Mini-FF) *''The Wailing World'' *''The Warlock of Firetop Mountain'' External Links References Category:1986 books Category:Fighting Fantasy Series